Imperfect Understanding: Intimate Portraits of Chinese Celebrities

What did it mean to be a celebrity in 1930s China? Who were Republican China’s preeminent intellectuals, writers, artists, politicians, diplomats, and businesspeople, and how were they represented in the popular press? During the heady days of Anglophone publishing in 1930s China, Wen Yuan-ning edited for the Critic a series of “Unedited Biographies” (later “Intimate Portraits”) of famous contemporary Chinese personages. Wen and his collaborators—some of whom wrote anonymously—offered reade...